Young Life Capernaum

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Young Life Capernaum serves adolesents with intellectual and devlopmental disabiltities. We believe people with disabilities should have the chance to experience all
of life’s possibilities. Young Life Capernaum gives young people with various abilities the chance to experience fun and adventure,
to develop fulfilling friendships and to challenge their limits while
building self-esteem through club, camp and other exciting activities.

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Why Capernaum?

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In Mark 2, the Bible records the story of four able-bodied men and
their friend with a disability. Eager for their friend to see Jesus, the
talk of the town in Capernaum (kuh-per-ney-uhm), the men carried him on
a mat to a home where Jesus was teaching. When the friends arrived,
crowds already there prevented the men from getting their friend
anywhere close to Jesus. Undaunted, they carried him to the roof where
they cut a hole through layers of straw and hardened mud, and lowered
the man to Jesus’ feet.

Moved by their bold faith, Jesus restored the man with a disability to wholeness and health. The lives of all five men — and the crowd who witnessed the event —
were never the same. We call Young Life’s ministry with adolescents with
disabilities “Capernaum,” because we don’t think intellectual or
developmental limitations should keep an adolescent from the presence of
the One who promises fullness of life. Like the friends in the story,
we move through barriers, including the isolation and marginalization
that can accompany having special needs, believing that the lives of
teens with disabilities, as well as their able-bodied friends, are
transformed by the shared experience of Young Life.